In peer-to-peer systems, devices may broadcast what are referred to as discovery signals. The discovery signals allow devices in the vicinity of one another to determine the presence of the other device and/or information that may be useful to the receiving device in determining if a connection should be established with the device transmitting a received discovery signal. Discovery signals may be transmitted to communicate, user identifiers, device identifiers, group identifiers, e.g., indicating membership in a particular group, service offers, product advertisements, requests for service, etc. A device may periodically transmit discovery signals to communicate the same or different information. The transmission of discovery signal allows devices entering an area to detect the presence of the transmitting device and to discover information about the device, services, etc. available from, or being sought by, the transmitting device.
A user of a peer-to-peer device could be overwhelmed if alerts, also sometimes referred to as alarms, were generated each time a discovery signal was received. This is particularly the case in congested areas where a large number of devices may be present and transmitting discovery signals. Problems may also occur in areas such as shopping malls where large numbers of product or service advertisements may be transmitted in an attempt to attract the attention of potential customers.
Generation of a large number of alerts in response to discovery signals in which the user is not interested can result in the user becoming disinterested in alerts. It may also cause the user of a device to ignore alerts which are important to the user as the user is overwhelmed by alerts of little or no interest to the user making the user insensitive to the large number of alerts.
The total number of alerts is not the only issue of concern. Alerts may be caused for different reasons, e.g., because of the receipt of discovery signals including different identifiers or offers. From the user's perspective, discovery signals communicating different information may have different degrees of relevance and/or importance. Accordingly, it would be desirable if the number and/or type of alerts generated in response to the receipt of discovery signals could be controlled at least in part, based on the information, e.g., identifier or offer, communicated by the discovery signal.
In view of the above discussion it should be appreciated that there is a need for improved methods and apparatus for processing discovery signals and/or controlling alert generation. In particular, there is a need for a method whereby alert signals are generated based on received discovery signals on a selective basis, e.g., so that receipt of a discovery signal does not automatically result in an alert being generated. It would be desirable if at least some methods and/or apparatus could be developed which allow for one or more of the following: at least some user control over alert generation; automatic control or adjustment of alert generation as a function of a user response to one or more generated alerts or discovery statistical information; and control over the frequency of alerts corresponding to a particular alert category or type of discovery signal.